Supporting tenure

For those looking for academic employment, there are two
main options: tenure track and non-tenure track. Check back for the latter in
my second post of the day, when I’ll be writing about the issues facing
non-tenure track faculty, especially adjuncts. But in this post, I’ll focus on
issues related to tenure.

Tenure is a hallmark of the academic profession. It has long
existed to provide safeguards for those entrusted to examine the hard issues
and research questions that may not be popular or even popularly understood. It
guarantees a right to due process before dismissal from employment. And our
society would be much worse off without such protections.

But tenure has gotten a bad rap. According to much of public
opinion, and unfortunately according to some in power in universities and our
nation’s legislatures, tenured professors are paid too much to work too little,
and can’t be removed from duty even if they’re doing a terrible job. Little
attention is paid to the ways that tenure advances our society, and the public
message instead focuses on the myths
about the tenure system. As a result, lawmakers and university leaders
have, at times, taken to undermining tenure, whether because they believe the
myths about it or as a shortsighted
financial “solution” in a bad economy.

The APA stands with other academic associations and
disciplinary societies in supporting tenure and working to preserve this
important practice. For philosophers who feel their tenure rights have been
violated, our Committee on the Defense of Professional Rights of Philosophers
can be an excellent resource and ally. The APA,
like the American
Association of University Professors (AAUP), censures institutions when “conditions
for academic freedom and tenure are unsatisfactory at a college or university”;
these institutions are also marked in Jobs
for Philosophers so that applicants considering employment with such
institutions can be aware of their censured status.

Unfortunately, I don’t anticipate that attacks
on tenure will go away anytime soon, but so long as we are around to do so, the
APA will continue to fight for the institution of tenure and for our tenured
members’ rights.